Ericsson lays out ambitious plans for growth

Ericsson chief Hans Vestberg has identified potential future earnings of £231m

The chief executive of Ericsson has said that his company is looking to move into new markets and outstrip growth in its traditional areas.

Hans Vestberg stated at the firm's Capital Markets Day in Stockholm that Ericsson is "not satisfied" with its current position, and has identified new markets to address with its telecoms services.

"The capabilities we have in place today enable us to address customers beyond traditional telecoms operators such as cable and TV companies, governments, healthcare, transport and utilities. These are industries where there is a huge need for telecoms services," he said.

However, Vestberg added that Ericsson wants to strengthen its position and " grow faster than the market" in its existing areas, and that the firm had identified potential future earnings of $350m (£231m) in these sectors.

"Less than five per cent of the world's population has access to 21Mbit/s or more in the air, and at least 1.5 million installed GSM radio base stations must be replaced," he said.

"In addition, we see a continued need for services in fields such as consulting, systems integration and managed services."

The number of mobile broadband users is expected to rise from 400 million today to 3.5 billion in 2015, and Ericsson is looking to meet the demands of operators wishing to offer new charging models.

"As a consequence, we are beginning to see signs of changed operator tariffs and pricing models aligned to consumer needs, especially for mobile broadband services and data use. It's important for us to follow this development," he said.